Kabbalah

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There are views that hold Kabbalah's emergence as being from Judaism. The view of Kabbalists themselves is otherwise; that Kabbalah appeared earlier than Judaism, and that Kabbalists created Judaism as a system to frame the behavior of the masses while they had no sensation of spirituality.

Throughout its history, Kabbalah passed through people who lived in this world according to the Judaic framework, and also through non-Jews. Ultimately, since Kabbalah only deals with the study of the upper worlds, it has no relation to religion nor to Judaism since the science itself relates only to attaining layers of perception beyond our five senses.

The science of Kabbalah holds no behavioral obligations as religions do. It has nothing against them, and many Kabbalists throughout history held onto religious behavioral systems while living in this world. But Kabbalists explain simply that performing behavioral actions have no relation to the inner process of spiritual attainment. They also warn that one who positions one's life according to a behavioral scheme can be fooled into thinking that they are involved in spiritual work, when they are only involved in abiding to philosophical "spiritual concepts."

Kabbalah explains the laws of nature: how humans and everything has been created, and how to change one's current level of perception to perceive these laws while living in our body in this world. It is a process of attaining these laws. These laws operate at the level of our thoughts and desires. They literally control us, and have made us create religions and all kinds systems to find comfort in the world.

As such, Kabbalah, in its essence, holds onto your second view: it "reaches out in a universalist approach toward all people." The reason that there are Kabbalah groups extending from religions (and many other things) is because of Kabbalah's concealment throughout history. Kabbalistic books are written in a concealed language, that only through proper guidance from an attained Kabbalist can one attain what is behind its language. People without spiritual attainment throughout history have created systems out of whatever they could understand, and mixed this understanding with whatever else they were involved in - physical concepts of the body, religion, tarot, meditation, mysticism, magic, miracles, spiritual protection, and so on.

The science of Kabbalah was passed through closed teacher-to-student relationships, and was purposely hidden from the public because Kabbalists knew the public did not need it in the past. All the systems of the past were enough for the public to find peace, and to find somewhere else to progress if they couldn't find peace.

Kabbalists stated (the Gaon of Vilna, Baal HaSulam and in The Zohar) that from the end of the 20th century, Kabbalah would begin to be revealed, because the need for it would emerge in humanity at this time. In other words, human desires would evolve to a new level where existing systems and frameworks could no longer satisfy them.

When humanity can no longer find peace and comfort anywhere, it would begin to start questioning the purpose of its existence. This is the sign that the next level of desire - the desire for spirituality - has evolved. The time when humanity starts feeling the question about the purpose of its existence is the time when Kabbalah would emerge to provide a place for further progression, toward the very answer to this question.

There is more about the connection between Kabbalah and Judaism in this lecture and Q&A discussion with Rav Michael Laitman at the Odessa State University: http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/science_...